USSEC consultant Miguel Marquez provided technical support to the Dirección General de Sanidad Animal/Dirección General de Ganadería (General Animal Sanitary and Husbandry Office) of the Dominican Republic in the effort to eradicate Newcastle Disease and Avian Influenza.

The goal of the Dominican Poultry Producers Association (private sector) and the National Directorate of Animal Health (official sector) is to have the Dominican Poultry industry completely free of Newcastle and Avian Influenza, which will then allow the Dominican poultry industry to begin exporting first to Haiti and eventually to other Caribbean countries.
Mr. Marquez made an inspection visit to the Laboratorio Veterinario Central (Central Veterinarian Lab) to assess the capabilities of creating virological serological and molecular biology tests for Newcastle and Avian Influenza diagnosis.  He also presented a lecture titled “The Highly Pathogenic Exotic Avian Influenza A/H7N3 Outbreak in Jalisco, Mexico 2012” to more than forty students of veterinary medicine at the Universidad Instituto Superior de Agricultura (Agriculture Institute University) in La Herradura Santiago, DR.